Chapter 1359: Mulan and the King (Seeking Subscriptions)

Chongqing, Chaotian Palace, the drill ground.

The Shun Empire, founded deep in the mountains between Sichuan and Yunnan, had carried a martial and combative streak from the day of its birth — one look at Chaotian Palace, the Shun emperor's residence in Chongqing, made that clear.

Though it was an imperial household, its furnishings were plain to the extreme. There was no garden or pond for the emperor's leisure at all. Within the palace walls were crammed fortifications for quartering troops, storehouses for supplies and grain, and sheds for livestock. The only open ground was a drill field at the center of Chaotian Palace.

It was a fully equipped drill ground — broad and level, with an archery range and room to gallop horses. In the middle stood a wooden platform a little over a foot high, used for spear and sword-and-shield bouts. Along the edge were spectator stands, and the nobles living in Chaotian Palace could also watch from the balcony on the second floor of the main hall.

Zhu Cilang was now sitting on that second-floor balcony of Chaotian Palace's main hall together with Princess Nisha, Zhu Hexing, Ding Yuying, Zhu Hehao, Wu Ahuan, Ahai, and others, watching the martial display underway on the field below.

Everyone taking part in today's display had passed the "TOEFL test" and become Centurions, probationary Centurions, vice-Centurions, or guards under the King of the United States — men and women alike. Most were very young; the men in particular were almost all under eighteen. Any son of a fubing household past that age had either already been called up for campaign duty or was too old and frail to pass the TOEFL test. Among the women who became vice-Centurions and guards, about half were married women in their twenties or thirties — these were all vice-Centurions — while the other half were girls of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, most of whom belonged to the King of the United States' guard unit.

It was understandable to appoint married women in their twenties and thirties as vice-Centurions — after all, the development corps had no shortage of miscellaneous work, and a bunch of teenagers alone could not handle it.

But what was the meaning of recruiting two or three hundred teenage girls as guards? The Zhu Emperor thought to himself: You nouveau-riche king, aren't you a little too fond of women?

Zhu Cilang asked in a grave voice, "Nouveau-riche boy, why are all the guards you picked teenage girls?"

"In reply to Imperial Father," Zhu Hehao said with a smile, "your son knows that in the United States of the New Continent there are far more men than women, and Han maidens are especially scarce. So I specially selected three hundred of them and keep them by my side under the name of guards. Once we reach the New Continent, I will pick good husbands for them — helping fulfill others' wishes and incidentally winning a bit of goodwill."

In the United States of the New Continent, things precious in the Old World — gold, silver, sable pelts, land — were not particularly scarce, and food was so abundant that everyone could eat their fill. But women were extremely precious, especially Han maidens from the Ming homeland; every one of them was treasured beyond measure. Many men who had made a name for themselves on the New Continent still found it hard to get a satisfactory wife. Even if they spent a great deal of money to have someone search for a beauty in the Ming homeland, what they ended up with was usually just some country girl who could not recognize a basketful of characters.

But the girls of Shun fubing households were, to put it in the best light, aristocrats! They were educated, skilled in martial arts, and knew how to use firearms and bows. Girls like these were simply born for the New World! Once they crossed the ocean, every one of them would instantly become priceless.

Really? Zhu Cilang looked at his son. The boy was certainly handsome, and a nouveau riche, and a king besides — he ought to be quite popular with girls. But you must conduct yourself with propriety! Learn from your father — you must not be too fond of women!

Under Zhu Cilang's scrutiny, the Nouveau-Riche King felt a little guilty. His words were of course somewhat watered down. Of the three hundred girls, two hundred ninety-nine were indeed meant to win hearts and minds. But one girl named Du Mulan was prepared for himself. This little lass, though not as tall and dazzling as Wu Ahuan, had a flavor all her own — the delicate charm of a modest beauty mixed with a touch of natural wildness, and when she handled weapons there was a stubborn quality about her that the Nouveau-Riche King found especially alluring.

In fact, it was when the Nouveau-Riche King presided over the first TOEFL test and caught a glimpse of this young lady named Du Mulan that he had thought of selecting some beautiful girls to take to the United States of the New Continent and marry off to people he needed to win over.

Du Mulan, dressed in a neat blue arrow-robe, was the first to display her martial skills before the father of the King of the United States, the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming. As she stepped onto the wooden platform, her feelings were complicated as she performed a bow with clasped hands toward the distant balcony.

She knew that the Shun Empire's most fearsome enemy, Zhu Cilang, was now sitting on that balcony which ought to have belonged to the Shun emperor — sitting together with the handsome King of the United States who always appeared in her dreams!

Although she had been indoctrinated since childhood to strike at the Zhu family and destroy the remnant Ming, when her father — a Colonel of the Shizhu Zhechong Prefecture — read aloud to everyone the letter of surrender persuasion from the Ming Prince of Shen (the King of the United States), a feeling of finally being saved had risen in her heart.

From that time on, she had regarded this Ming Prince of Shen as her benefactor. Later, when she saw the benefactor himself at the TOEFL test, she was immediately captivated by his noble bearing and handsome appearance. And the Prince of Shen seemed to have some interest in her too, selecting her for the guard unit — this was clearly so that she could attend the king day and night!

Clang! A gong sounded.

Du Mulan's martial arts demonstration officially began!

Du Mulan performed three traditional martial skills — spear, bow, and sword-and-shield — all simple, practical battlefield techniques with no flowery showmanship. To a layman it was not the least bit entertaining; if she took it to the streets to perform for money, she surely would not earn a copper. But the Zhu Emperor, an expert, watched with a slight frown.

The girl's martial skill was of course nothing special — any random fifteen- or sixteen-year-old from the Young Guards (student soldiers not yet formally enlisted) was far stronger than her.

But she was only a little loli of the Shun dynasty, not a true second- or third-generation Shun fubing warrior. If a little loli could have such martial skill, how formidable must the fubing men truly raised as warriors be!

The Sichuan campaign had crushed only the first-generation fubing and those second- or third-generation fubing over twenty years old. There were still many second- and third-generation fubing of about this little loli's age — people who had been "Shun subjects" from birth — who had not yet taken the field!

So the Shun dynasty's capacity for war still existed, and it was not to be underestimated!

Moreover, going south from Sichuan, level ground grew scarcer, mountains more numerous, and forests denser. And the mountain forests of Yunnan and northern Burma were not quite the same as the forests of southern Shaanxi — the latter had been developed by Han people for over two thousand years and were thoroughly tamed. If one did not know how to fight there, one could simply leaf through the Twenty-Three Histories and surely find a method.

But Yunnan and northern Burma were vast tracts of untamed land. Yunnan was somewhat better, having been ruled by the Ming for over two hundred years, but the Ming's actual area of control was not large. Northern Burma was an even bigger headache — the Grand Marshal's Office did not even have a single usable map of northern Burma. And because those regions were tropical, they contained vast stretches of rainforest, which was extremely unfavorable to Ming troops accustomed to forming ranks and fighting on open ground, but extremely favorable to the Shun fubing, who emphasized individual martial prowess!

It seemed the Shun dynasty still had plenty of room to muddle along!

At that thought, the Zhu Emperor turned to Zhu Hehao beside him and said, "Nouveau-riche boy, how many people have you won over in all these days? How many of them can be taken to the New Continent? And how many need to be properly resettled?"

Zhu Hehao replied, "Imperial Father, as of the end of the second month, the roving-bandit military households your son has recruited down from the mountains number over one hundred sixty thousand. Of those, nearly eighty thousand can go to the New Continent. The remaining eighty thousand or so are either elderly or unwilling to go to the New Continent, still hoping to reunite with family members serving in the roving-bandit army."

Zhu Cilang nodded. "These eighty thousand must be properly resettled. They cannot be allowed to remain in Sichuan. After a while longer, the Sichuan people may well start missing the roving bandits. If these people stay in Sichuan, they will surely be a hidden danger! Even less can they be allowed to go to Shaanxi. Shaanxi has only just become stable — we cannot let them return home in glory to kill, burn, and seize gold belts! However down-and-out they may be, they are still far better off than their old neighbors who stayed home to farm."

Those recruited by the Nouveau-Riche King were all family members of Shun fubing!

But there were degrees of closeness. Some had husbands in the army, some had sons in the ranks, some had fathers away at war, and some had brothers who had gone off with the main force.

Du Mulan's elder brother had been called up for military service and was now completely out of contact. So her sister-in-law, her nephew, and her aged father and mother all wanted to remain in Ming territory and wait for the son's return.

But Mulan, her younger sister Mumian, and a younger brother Muxin all planned to go to the New Continent to seek their fortune. The three of them had grown up believing they were no ordinary commoners, and of course they could not bear to live as nameless nobodies on Ming soil.

Zhu Cilang thought for a moment, then turned back to look at Crown Prince Zhu Hexing and Crown Princess Ding Yuying. "Lucky boy, Yuying — where do you two think would be suitable to move them?"

Ding Yuying had long since thought this question through. Hearing it, she answered with a smile, "Imperial Father, your daughter-in-law thinks they could be settled in Tianhe Prefecture. Tianhe has been established for years but has never prospered; its population is small, and the city is full of empty lots, just right for these people to live in. It is also far enough from the roving bandits' territory, and there are not many landless or land-poor poor peasants around, so they could not stir up trouble even if they tried."

"What about food and daily necessities for over eighty thousand people?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

Ding Yuying said thoughtfully, "Then we would have to foster some industries. It is not an easy matter, but it is not without solutions. As far as your daughter-in-law knows, although the roving bandits' fubing households are not much good at farming, quite a few of them can forge their own armor, weapons, and horse tack — they can count as craftsmen. Perhaps we could give them some orders and support them."

Zhu Cilang glanced at Zhu Hexing again. Zhu Hexing said, "Imperial Father, Yuying's idea is good! Though business is not easy, someone will always manage to stand out, and the present difficulty can also be resolved."

Zhu Cilang smiled. "Our son has indeed made progress!" He looked at his daughter-in-law again. "Yuying, you are not bad either! Once you have given birth, go to Tianhe Prefecture together with Lucky boy. These fubing family members will be entrusted to the two of you!"

(End of Chapter)